Hope, Deceiving As It Is,

Idleness And Constancy Fix The Mind To What It Finds Easy And Agreeable. This Habit Always Confines And Cramps Up Our Knowledge; And No One Has Ever Taken The Trouble To Stretch And Carry His Understanding As Far As It Could Go.

If We Did Not Flatter Ourselves, The Flattery Of Others Could Never Harm Us.

It Is Necessary, In Order To Know Things Well, To Know The Particulars Of Them; And These, Being Infinite, Make Our Knowledge Eversuperficial And Imperfect.

The Generality Of Men Have, Like Plants, Latent Properties, Which Chance Brings To Light.

Self-interest Speaks All Manner Of Tongues And Plays All Manner Of Parts, Even That Of Disinterestedness.